


Welcome to Starbucks

by UndercoverAvenger



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz (Two River Cast) RPF
Genre: But doesn't realize who it is, M/M, Michael works at Starbucks, Rich thinks the Barista is hot, Rich/Michael, bmc, expensive headphones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 12:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16040771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UndercoverAvenger/pseuds/UndercoverAvenger
Summary: When the Starbucks that Rich frequents gets a new barista, saying that he noticed would be a HUGE understatement. The first time Rich saw the cute new guy he’d literally frozen too busy getting lost in deep chocolate eyes and caramel skin. He spends the next several weeks pining over his mystery guy; asking him out whenever he worked up the nerve and flirting whenever he could.Who would've thought that all it took was an English project to get him a date with his barista?





	Welcome to Starbucks

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I was reading back through this and thought I'd make something more clear: Michael DOES NOT wear his glasses when he's working. Like a ton of other glasses-wearing people in the food industry, he wears contacts while on the job so he doesn't have to worry about constantly adjusting them or getting anything on them. Thank you for listening to my PSA. Carry on.

When the Starbucks that Rich frequented got a new barista, saying that he’d noticed would be an understatement. The first time Rich saw the cute new guy he’d literally frozen and Jake ended running into him. He didn’t even notice; too busy getting lost in deep chocolate eyes and caramel skin. Rich eyed the soft-looking dark brown hair and fought the urge to bury his hands in it.

 

When he reached the front of the line and was faced by the other male’s blinding grin, his words died on his tongue. Jake had to nudge him to get him to snap out of his haze, “S-sorry!” He sputtered, “Um, I’ll just have a caramel macchiato with three shots of espresso and extra whipped cream.”

 

The boy grinned, “Alrighty then. Anything else I can get for you?”

 

Rich’s SQUIP appeared next to him, ‘ _Richard, either take your foot out of your mouth or realize who you’re talking to.’_

 

 _‘What’re you talking about?_ ’ Rich thought back, ‘ _I’ve never seen this guy in my life!’_

 

The SQUIP smirked, ‘ _He asked you a question. How do you think you should respond?’_

 

‘ _Shit._ ’ He brought his attention back to the cute barista, “Maybe just your number?”

 

The brunet chuckled, “Just the drink then.” He turned to make Rich’s drink as another barista took Jake’s order. The pretty brunet turned back and handed the drink to the shorter male. He smiled, eyes lighting up, “Have a nice day!”

 

Rich glanced down at his cup, grinning softly as he noticed that the barista had drawn a tiny smiley face next to his name.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Rich found himself visiting Starbucks more and more frequently in the hope of seeing the cute brunet barista. Every time he spotted the attractive brunet barista butterflies erupted in his stomach and he got tongue-tied, stuttering over his pick-up lines and lisping lightly, much to his SQUIP’s chagrin.

 

Even his own awkwardness couldn’t shake his determination, after all, how could it when every time Rich flubbed a pick-up line the pretty barista grinned brightly and laughed that sunshine-filled chuckle before perfectly making his usual drink.

 

* * *

 

 

“God, Jake, I just want to find him out of the coffee shop.” Rich whined, leaning against the locker next to the taller brunet’s. “I’m sure that if I could just talk to him while he isn’t working, I could win him over!” Jake rolled his eyes, tuning out his best bro’s rambling.

 

Rich’s words faded as his eyes caught on a flash of red, bobbing through the crowd. His gaze settled on one of the blips of Middle Borough’s social map, watching with interest as the boy’s fingers tapped away at his thigh to the beat of the music playing through the white headphones clasped over his ears, hood of his scarlet jacket bobbing gently as he wove through the crowd and glasses slipping down his nose slightly.

 

The taller male came to a stop near Jake and Rich, expertly twisting open the lock of his locker and snatching up a textbook before spinning on his heel and kicking the locker shut behind him as he danced through the crowd, a blue raspberry slushie clutched loosely in one hand.

 

“Jake, did that guy look kinda familiar to you?” Rich asked curiously, feeling a strong sense of deja-vu but unable to place where he’d seen the tan stranger.

 

Jake shrugged, “Not really, man, all I know’s that he hangs out with Heere all the time.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Rich’s golden opportunity came when he was paired with the stranger (Michael Mell, as he learned his name was) for an assignment in English Literature. He met up with the dark-haired male after class to set up a time to work on the project. “So Michael,” Rich started, studying his face in an attempt to figure out why he was so familiar, “Does it work for you if we meet up today after school to get this project over with?”

 

Michael grinned and Rich’s heart leapt in his throat in the same way it did with his (Well, not _his_ , but hey, a guy can dream) barista, “Sure, but I have to head to work at 5:00.”

 

Rich nodded, mind on the pretty chocolate-eyed barista, “No worries; I’ve got a date at about that time.”

 

When the duo met up at Michael’s after school, Rich found himself pleasantly surprised by just how chill the other boy was. They’d started off working on their assignment, but quickly devolved into a full on one-vs-one Halo death-match.

 

Michael’s character was mere milliseconds from killing Rich’s character when the alarm on his phone went off. “Shit,” he swore as he checked the time, “I’m sorry, I’ve really got to go; if I don't leave right now I’m going to be late.”

 

Rich followed Michael from the house, waving as the brunet grinned brightly at him from inside of his off-red PT Cruiser. _Well,_ Rich thought, _time to go see my favorite barista...._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Rich waited about half an hour before making his way to the Starbucks in the mall, making sure he wasn’t going to seem like he was waiting for the brunet to get there. He took a deep breath and made his way into the over-priced coffee shop.

 

Like he always was Tuesday nights, Rich’s pretty barista was struggling to change out one of the flavor canisters behind the counter. He grinned brightly whenever he made eye contact with anyone, but still continued to do his job diligently.

 

Rich made his way to the counter, both immensely grateful and overwhelmingly disappointed that there wasn’t a long line between himself and the handsome coffee guy. He waited as the brunet wrestled the nozzle back onto the canister before turning to face Rich. He was stunned again by how familiar the brunet’s face was, but the other male began talking before he could get to enraptured in his thoughts.

 

“Hey, man, the usual?” He started, grinning brilliantly as Rich nodded. “So,” he started as he began making Rich’s coffee, “how was your date?”

 

_......What._

 

Rich’s SQUIP appeared beside him, looking down at him incredulously. _‘Really? You still haven’t realized who your “dream guy” is?’_ He rolled his eyes, snapping his fingers and causing Rich’s optic nerves to flicker. The appearance of the brunet before him flashed, rapidly shifting from his typical work uniform to a new figure, one clad in a red patch-covered hoodie with a pair of round glasses perched on his nose.

 

_Holy shit; hot coffee shop guy is actually Michael Mell?!?!_

 

The SQUIP facepalmed, dropping his visual overlay to reveal Michael’s current form as he looked expectantly back at Rich before vanishing again.

 

“Oh, uh,” Rich stammered, distracted by the full view of Michael’s eyes, unobscured by the glasses he always wore when he wasn’t working, “He cancelled.”

 

Michael grimaced in solidarity, “Oh, that sucks. I’m sorry man.” He brightened, placing Rich’s coffee in front of him, “If you want, once I get done we could finish up that project?”

 

Rich nodded eagerly, “Of course!”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

When Rich made his way to Michael’s house that night, his mind was still reeling from his revelation. He couldn’t believe that the attractive barista and the school’s biggest loner were the same person, but it seemed like Michael thrived on going against his expectations.

 

Michael lead the way back down to his basement and flopped back onto one of the beanbags before tugging his English book onto his lap. Rich followed his lead and settled himself in the other beanbag and moving to take out his book. He shook his head, sitting back and staring over at Michael, “I can’t believe you let me flirt with you for a month and a half without saying anything.”

 

Michael chuckled, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Honestly I thought it was just a running joke. Why would I respond when it was just a popular guy messing with some loser?”

 

Rich leaned forward in disbelief, “You think I’d pull something like that? Michael, I must’ve asked you out thirty times and you thought I was _joking_?”

 

The brunet scoffed, “Well, having a guy like you actually asking me out was kind of hard to believe. Plus, didn’t you have a date set up for earlier? Wouldn’t surprise me if you already had a girlfriend or boyfriend.”

 

“Okay, confession time? There was no date; I was just going to go see you at the coffee shop.” Rich squirmed out of his beanbag and knelt down in front of Michael, “Also, dude, no. Michael, I’m only cool because I _made_ myself cool; you’re,” He paused, searching for the the right words, “You’re awesome!” Michael scoffed and Rich hurried to explain further, “You don’t care what anybody thinks about you and you listen to music that nobody else likes it but that doesn’t matter because _you_ like it. You like slushies and sushi and don’t care when someone doesn’t,” Rich was rambling, he knew he was, but he couldn’t stop. He wasn’t entirely sure where these memories of the other male were coming from, but he found himself smiling as he thought of them, “And you always wear that stupid hoodie, not even caring that ‘a guy like me’ wants to steal it and curl up in it because it’s big and probably soft and it probably smells like you and-”

 

Michael smiled softly, leaning forward and pressing his lips to Rich’s. The shorter boy froze, mind struggling to comprehend what was happening. His SQUIP sent a gentle jolt of electricity down his spine to spur him into reacting. He shifted closer, grinning against the taller boy’s lips as he wrapped his arms around the brunet’s shoulders and twined his fingers into Michael’s dark brown waves, just how he’d wanted to for nearly two months. Michael’s hands slipped around his waist, tugging him up onto his lap and pressing him closer as they kissed.

 

It could’ve gone on for a minute or ten years before Michael broke away, cheeks flushing as he ducked his head, pressing his face against Rich’s collar bone to hide his embarrassment. Rich grinned, tucking his face into Michael’s hair, “So does this mean you’ll say yes when I ask you out this time?”

 

Michael chuckled, nodding into Rich’s chest. “Wanna stay here and watch a movie?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The boys had migrated onto the couch near the TV. Michael had settled himself along the length of the couch and Rich had laid down on top of him and he’d pulled a fuzzy blanket over the both of them. The movie had hardly even started when Rich realized something, “Hey, I just realized that I didn’t even mention one of the things that made me notice you in the first place.”

 

Michael hummed curiously, his arms wrapped gently around Rich’s torso as he watched the movie.

 

Rich flailed his arms dramatically, “You’re RIDICULOUSLY HOT.”

 

Michael laughed loudly, pressing a kiss to the top of Rich’s head and curling his arms tighter around his new boyfriend’s middle.


End file.
